Heretofore, long chain alcohols have typically been prepared by hydrogenation of fatty oils and fatty acids or through Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) type chemistry, both of which place the alcohol group towards the end of the molecule. Also regarding chain length, it is typically expensive to prepare alcohols with a carbon chain length above that of available fatty acids, i.e., typically up to C18 for the most common fatty acids and fatty oil feedstocks.
There is a need for processes for efficiently producing long chain secondary alcohols from fatty acids and fatty oils.